Can anyone give me the names of any currently or recently active musicians who wear glasses, on or off stage?
I need it for a story I’m writing. A guy who’s about to start attending college decides to ditch his contacts for thin-black-frame, “emo” style glasses. He puts them on and declares, “Hey, look at me; I’m <name of musician who wears glasses in the apparent hope of being thought of as intellectual and deep>!”
Thanks in advance!
Eric Clapton
Hm, so Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison are both out? Elton John, too, I’m guessing.
The glasses were almost a signature for Elvis Costello in his early years. He is still out there, though (IMO) he spends too much time doing TV spots these days.
Rivers Cuomo (Weezer)
I thought one or both of the guys in “They Might Be Giants” wears glasses.
Billy Joel has.
Lisa Loeb.
Eminem.
John Lennon.
The guy from Barenaked Ladies.
John Popper from Blues Traveler.
Too obvious. Same with Costello.
Maybe Bono? I think he’s been wearing glasses lately. Has Michael Stipe ever worn them? Rivers Cuomo is a possibility. What I’m really looking for is a musician who some people think of as “deep” and others dismiss as pretentious.
Steve from Barenaked Ladies might also wear glasses like that.
What’s his last name, then?
Although I’m leaning towards Bono, because he’s got just the “thinks he’s an oracle but some people wish he would just shut up already” quality I’m looking for.
Steven Page
What about the pre-LASIK Al Yankovic?
Oh, and he does still wear them on occasion, but only for the sake of appearance.
No, they won’t be round metal ones; they’ll be lightweight black frames. Emo-style, as I said.
If this was a girl, I would definitely say Lisa Loeb.
I wear glasses.
Oh, you mean famous people…
Warren Zevon.
VCNJ~
I’d love to do an homage to Warren, but no, these aren’t the same kind of frames. Anyway, Warren wore glasses from an early age because he was genuinely nearsighted; they weren’t an affectation or a concession to aging.
Yes, but they’ve been of the giant, butt-ugly black plastic type rather than the thin-framed ones. I found a rather blurry picture of him in the glasses I’ve seen and, as a bonus, a picture of Bono (with Stipe, perhaps not coincidentally) in his glasses.
Elvis Costello does, or used to.
Joe Walsh does.
Marshall Crenshaw
Rivers Cuomo from Weezer wears the exact glasses the OP is thinking of, and has that very musical reputation (is he deep, or is he pretentious?). He even attended Harvard! Personally I like the guy, his music, and his sense of style, but I think he’s exactly what the OP is looking for.
Robert Fripp.
